capacity

[ kuh-pas-i-tee ]

/ kəˈpæs ɪ ti /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR capacity ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural ca·pac·i·ties.

the ability to receive or contain: This hotel has a large capacity.

the maximum amount or number that can be received or contained; cubic contents; volume: The inn is filled to capacity. The gasoline tank has a capacity of 20 gallons.

power of receiving impressions, knowledge, etc.; mental ability: the capacity to learn calculus.

actual or potential ability to perform, yield, or withstand: He has a capacity for hard work. The capacity of the oil well was 150 barrels a day. She has the capacity to go two days without sleep.

quality or state of being susceptible to a given treatment or action: Steel has a high capacity to withstand pressure.

position; function; role: He served in the capacity of legal adviser.

legal qualification.

Electricity.

capacitance.
maximum possible output.

adjective

reaching maximum capacity: a capacity audience; a capacity crowd.

Nearby words

Origin of capacity

1375–1425; late Middle English capacite < Middle French < Latin capācitāt- (stem of capācitās), equivalent to capāci-, stem of capāx roomy (cap(ere) to hold + -āci- adj. suffix) + -tāt- -ty²

SYNONYMS FOR capacity

2. dimensions, amplitude. 3. endowment, talent, gifts. 4. aptitude, adequacy, competence, capability.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR capacity ON THESAURUS.COM

Can be confusedability capacity

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for capacity

Specifically, the pilots got themselves into a high altitude stall, where the wings lose the capacity to provide lift.
Flight 8501 Poses Question: Are Modern Jets Too Automated to Fly?|Clive Irving|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Foxx says that he thinks this generation has the capacity to keep pushing through racial barriers.
Jamie Foxx: Get Over the Black ‘Annie’|Stereo Williams|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
First up is the larger wash still, its capacity ranging from 25,000 to 30,000 liters.
When It Comes to Great Whisky, The Size of Your Still Matters||December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We are overwhelmed with data from every quarter, and our capacity to filter fact from fraud is limited.
The Facts About Ferguson Matter, Dammit|Doug McIntyre|December 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST

It was beyond the capacity of any human cryptologist to decipher the signals.
The Castration of Alan Turing, Britain’s Code-Breaking WWII Hero|Clive Irving|November 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The truth is I haven't got it in me—the capacity to succeed.
The Fortune Hunter|Louis Joseph Vance
I never saw five other human beings with such a capacity for getting out of danger.
The Scouts of the Valley|Joseph A. Altsheler
There was an end of all his peace, all his capacity for labour, his patient endurance of penury.
New Grub Street|George Gissing
Persons who served as doorkeepers or in any other capacity received ten dollars each.
A Backward Glance at Eighty|Charles A. Murdock
She jeopardises her life immediately and she generally deteriorates her capacity for future usefulness.
Race Improvement : or, Eugenics : a Little Book on a Great Subject|La Reine Helen Baker

British Dictionary definitions for capacity

capacity

/ (kəˈpæsɪtɪ) /

noun plural -ties

the ability or power to contain, absorb, or hold

the amount that can be contained; volumea capacity of six gallons

the maximum amount something can contain or absorb (esp in the phrase filled to capacity)
(as modifier)a capacity crowd

the ability to understand or learn; aptitude; capabilityhe has a great capacity for Greek

the ability to do or produce (often in the phrase at capacity)the factory's output was not at capacity

a specified position or functionhe was employed in the capacity of manager

a measure of the electrical output of a piece of apparatus such as a motor, generator, or accumulator

electronics a former name for capacitance

computing

the number of words or characters that can be stored in a particular storage device
the range of numbers that can be processed in a register

the bit rate that a communication channel or other system can carry

legal competencethe capacity to make a will

Word Origin for capacity

C15: from Old French capacite, from Latin capācitās, from capāx spacious, from capere to take

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for capacity

capacity

early 15c., from Middle French capacité "ability to hold" (15c.), from Latin capacitatem (nominative capacitas) "breadth, capacity, capability of holding much," noun of state from capax (genitive capacis) "able to hold much," from capere "to take" (see capable). Meaning "largest audience a place can hold" is 1908.

Medicine definitions for capacity

capacity

[ kə-păs′ĭ-tē ]

n.

The measure of potential cubic contents of a cavity or receptacle; volume.

Ability to perform or produce; capability.

capacity

noun, plural ca·pac·i·ties.

adjective

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Origin of capacity

Examples from the Web for capacity

capacity

noun plural -ties

Word Origin for capacity

capacity

capacity

n.